As previously reported here on the Doctor Who News Page, the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter has officially launched its new competition for young fans to design a TARDIS console. The contest is for children aged between 6 and 12, and the final winning design will be chosen by Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith. It is specified that the design "must incorporate household objects," and entrants are advised to "make sure it really feels as if the Doctor has put it together."

Full details are available on the Blue Peter website.

The BBC have now unveiled the new Doctor Who logo to accompany the 2010 television series. In the press release, Steven Moffat (the new Head Writer) says:SFX Magazine reported that the 'Doctor Who' lettering is officially referred to as the logo, whilst the "TARDIS" graphic is the insignia.

Press coverage from: Telegraph, Telegraph (again), Daily Star, The Sun.

The BBC have announced on the official Doctor Who website that a new logo for the series will be revealed tomorrow morning at 8:00am UK time:

There is also a video on the evolution of the Doctor Who logo to accompany the article.

Posters on the Gallifrey Base discussion forum report that it was announced at this weekend's "Regenerations" fan convention in Swansea that the 1971 Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil has been restored to colour for a forthcoming DVD release. Like a number of stories starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, the colour master videotapes for this six-part story were junked by the BBC in the 1970s. This left only black and white film recording copies of the episodes, made for overseas sale, in the archives. A small handful of colour clips survived on a domestic videotape recording of a transmission of the story in the United States, and were used to restore colour to scenes as a bonus feature at the end of the 1998 VHS release.

No detail has yet emerged of whether the full story has been recolourised for this DVD edition, nor for when the disc is scheduled for release. It is also not currently known whether the episodes were restored to colour using the chroma dot technique employed on the similarly-afflicted third episode of Planet of the Daleks in the forthcoming Dalek War box-set, or whether they were restored from scratch with artificial colour.

Actor Nicholas Courtney, who appears in the story as the Doctor's ally Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is also reported to have participated in an audio commentary for the release.

(Image from Shillpages.com)

The BBC Press Office's release of information regarding programmes on Tuesday the 6th of October contains a small snippet of interest to Doctor Who fans. The BBC's long-running children's magazine programme Blue Peter - which has enjoyed a close relationship with Doctor Who since the 1960s - will be launching "a Doctor Who competition, which will see one lucky viewer design a Tardis console that will feature in the new series."

It is not known in what context this "Tardis console" will be used in Doctor Who, nor when it may appear. Previous Blue Peter competitions have seen young fans design a monster (the Abzorbaloff from Love and Monsters in series two) and appear in the series (Utopia, in series three).

North American release dates for two more DVDs have been announced.

Both the First Doctor story The Keys of Marinus and the Sixth Doctor story The Twin Dilemma will be released on 5th January 2010.



The Coming Next trailer included on the UK release of The Dalek War boxset is for The Kings Demons/Planet of Fire, indicating this boxset will be released in the UK in January.

TV/Movie CD publisher Silva Screen have released details on a new CD covering the music from the two 1960s Aaru films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

The restored soundtracks feature the scores composed by Malcolm Lockyer and Bill McGuffie, with additional sounds from Barry Gray; the CD will also feature contemporary single releases, plus a 20 page booklet covering production notes and memorabilia.

The CD is due for release on 5th October; track details below.

The actor Iain Cuthbertson has died at the age of 79.

Cuthbertson appeared in the 1978 Fourth Doctor story The Ribos Operation, where he played Garron, a con man attempting to sell the entire planet of Ribos to the Graff Vynda-K, deposed ruler of Levithia.

He appeared in many roles on British television throughout the sixties and seventies, with his most memorable role that of the criminal and businessman Charlie Endell in Budgie, appearing alongside Adam Faith. He suffered a crippling stroke in January 1982, which forced him to give up theatre for fear of forgetting his lines. His first role following his stroke was as Scunner Campbell in SuperGran in 1985.

Cuthbertson's first marriage, to the actress Anne Kristen, was dissolved in 1988. His second wife was Janet Mary Smith. There were no children. He was born on January 4, 1930 and died on September 4, 2009.

Times Obituary

Thanks to Fiona Hall.

The actor Ray Barrett has died at the age of 82.

Barrett appeared in the 1965 William Hartnell story The Rescue, playing the roles of both Bennett and Koquillion. The story was released on DVD earlier this year.

Ray Barrett was a popular leading men on British television in the 1960s, appearing in such programmes as Emergency - Ward 10 and The Troubleshooters as well as providing some of the voices in the popular series Thunderbirds.

In later years, Barrett returned to his native Australia where he made a string of television appearances in series such as Something In The Air, All Saints and White Collar Blue.

His last film appearance was in Baz Luhrmann's Australia.

He died from a brain haemorrhage early Tuesday morning.

Richard Curtis, the man behind some of the most successful British films and comedies, has agreed to write an episode of Doctor Who.

Speaking to the British Tabloid The Sun, Curtis said he has been asked to write for Matt Smith’s first series.


Curtis was the brains behind Four Weddings and a Funeral, which became the highest-grossing British film in cinema history at the time and for which he was Oscar nominated. On television, he has been responsible for the Blackadder series as well as The Vicar of Dibley. He is a BAFTA and Primetime Emmy winner.

BBC News has confirmed, via Curtis's agent, that the writer is working on a script for Doctor Who.